Snow and low visibility
Good Morning
A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until noon EST today for the locations the of the foothills of
interiors away from the coast.
Hazard types... snow... sleet... and freezing rain.
This morning it is all snow or sleet then rain likely with freezing rain this afternoon. Total snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Highs in the upper 30s. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Tonight it will be mostly cloudy with a chance of rain in the evening then partly cloudy after midnight. Lows in the mid 20s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The readings outside right now, taken from my own instrumentation are:
a relative humidity of 84% with a Dew Point of 24.6ºF.
The temperature is 28ºF with a wind chill of 27.5ºF.
The wind velocity right now is between 4.7 mph and 6.9 mph out of the North Northwest.
Our Barometric pressure is 29.75 and falling. The weather graphic indicates rain.
We had measurable precipitation so far of 3 inches of snow with a mix of sleet and rain starting to fall in our area.
Visibility is 0.5 miles with light snow.
The information below continues the basic information about Solar Flares and "space weather."
The direct effects of solar flares are mainly related to communications and radio transmissions, which you already seem to know about. Solar flares are often associated with coronal mass ejections, the ejections of electrons, protons and ions from the Sun. These charged particles have some other effects on Earth. The Earth has a natural protection against these charged particles: its magnetic field and atmosphere that blocks most of them. However, some charged particles can enter the atmosphere at the poles.
One of the most spectacular (and extremely beautiful) consequence of this are auroras. When charged particles (especially electrons) find their way at the poles, they get accelerated along the lines of the magnetic field and collide with the particles in the atmosphere which makes them glow. That glow is what we see as an aurora.
There are also health issues for ailine pilots and astronauts. For those of us that spend most of our time on the ground, the magnetic field and the atmosphere block out almost all of the harmful radiation and charged particles. This is not the case when you go up in the atmosphere. Airline pilots that fly at great altitude, and especially near the poles, are exposed to more of these. The same goes for astronauts. This results in a higher incidence of cancer among airline pilots and cabin crew. Astronauts have even reported seeing flashes of light because of high energy protons hitting their eyes!
Violent transfers of matter and energy from the Sun to the Earth have the potential to seriously affect both living beings and technology here on Earth. We call this "space weather."
If you are interested in "Space Weather" I urge you to visit:
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-earth/
and read through the web site. It is fascinating, and goes to prove that weather is most definitely not limited to the skies of earth.
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